One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving Blogging: Godzilla vs. Hedorah

One way to comprehend and
appreciate the Godzillamovies is to parse them as, essentially, the Japanese monster
equivalent of James Bond-styled movie adventures.

Thus, every Godzilla outing features
a different and dynamic antagonist and the same, dependable hero, Godzilla, who
faces this new threat or challenge. But in different eras, Godzilla is
interpreted differently, not unlike the varying interpretations of 007 by
actors Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig. Sometimes Godzilla is friendlier, sometimes
less so. Sometimes he is silly, and
sometimes he is deadly serious.

The monster movies of the 1970s
Showa period are a great deal more fanciful in presentation than some.

They are more aptly fantasy
entries than outright horror shows, like the original Gojira. On a personal note, I admire and love
the Godzilla
films of the 1970s Showa Era, and their interpretation of Godzilla as a
reluctant warrior for mankind, not to mention hero of children everywhere.

One of the very best Godzilla
films ever made – of any era -- is Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1972), or Godzilla
vs. The Smog Monster as it was known in the United States upon release. The film works as both a compelling Godzilla
entry, and also as a science fiction film featuring a meaningful statement
about the environment.

Remember, the great kaiju movies,
in my opinion, are the ones that create monsters that are avatars for some
pressing issue in the human world, often atomic testing, and the notion of Mother
Nature’s revolt against that poor behavior.

Godzilla
vs. Hedorahcreates a great monster, Hedorah,
out of the issue of pollution, which was a major component of the 1970s science
fiction film. Efforts from around the
world, including No Blade of Grass (1970), and Z.P.G. (1972) imagined
worlds in which our soiling of the planet led to catastrophic and apocalyptic
futures.

Hedorah possesses a unique and
fascinating life-cycle, which means that the monster adopts multiple forms in
the sea, on land and in the air, throughout the film, and that fact livens up
the battles with Godzilla quite a bit.

Godzilla
vs. Hedorah
also features at least one major sequence set during blackest night, and so
there is a dark aspect to this film that makes it memorable in the canon. The film also tailors its message of “saving
the Earth” so as to be appealing to children, who will recognize that Godzilla --
for all the damage he causes -- is on the side of the planet, and Mother Nature
herself.

A beast called Hedorah that
arises from “a sticky, dark planet far
away” is nurtured in the pollution, sewage, and detritus of Earth’s 20th
century civilizations.

The grotesque, blob-like entity
with red eyes develops and grows through three distinct stages -- in the ocean,
on the surface, and in the skies -- and soon proves a grave menace to human
life, especially in Japan.

Meanwhile, one boy, Kenny, dreams
of his hero, Godzilla, and believes that only the giant atomic lizard can save
the world from this terrible new threat.

Fortunately, the giant green
dinosaur soon shows up, and engages in a battle to the death with the smog
monster.

Going back for a minute to the
useful 007 Bond comparison, Godzilla vs. Hedorah opens with a catchy
pop tune, a lava-lamp-like introductory montage, and a musical performance by
an attractive female singer.

Similarly, the film also features
the obligatory almost stand-alone action set-pieces here…the ones in which the
protagonist first confronts the antagonist, and is defeated, and then the
climactic encounter, wherein good finally prevails.

Continuing down this road of
comparison further, the best way to judge or critique a Bond film, largely, is
to categorize the elements in terms of their antecedents and determine whether
the ingredients in the current entry stack-up to moments from franchise history.

Is the new movie as powerfully
vetted as past entries? Does it toss in some surprises to go along with the
elements that a devoted audience expects to see?

In terms of Godzilla vs. Hedorah, the
answers to such questions are universally affirmative.

Hedorah makes for a dangerous,
original, and grotesque villain, not merely in terms of his ever-changing
appearance, but also in terms of his abilities and proclivities. When the airborne Hedorah strafes his human
prey and sprays a toxic chemical, humans below are dissolved to bone instantly,
and it’s a frightening, grotesque effect. Another image of Hedorah that remains
unforgettable sees the beast perching atop a factory smoke-stack, imbibing
pollution directly from the pipe, as it were.

It seems to me that both Bond and
Godzilla films rise and fall on the basis of the villain’s nature and plans,
and Hedorah’s constantly shifting nature, nasty composition, gruesome power,
and odd appetite make him an unforgettable antagonist.

Godzilla
vs. Hedorah finds
some new subtext and social critique material for the long-standing
franchise. Historically, Godzilla has
been parsed as an avatar for atomic power. He owes his very existence in the 20th
century to human nuclear testing, and so forth.
In Godzilla vs. Hedorah,
however, the series gives him a villain who also symbolizes an important
element of the disco decade zeitgeist: pollution.

As seen in films such as
Frogs (1972) and Doomwatch(1976) environmental
pollution proved the great bugaboo of the age, and here, the alien seed that is
Hedorah sprouts from sewage and garbage strewn into the ocean. The opening scenes in the film depict smoke
stacks, factories, and filthy brown ocean water. We see, without fakery, examples of how man
has destroyed that which Nature has provided.
These moments are powerful because they are real. Man’s technology and
industry -- coupled with his propensity to destroy that which he touches – are turning
a paradise into a nightmare.

From this hot-house of detritus
emerges something unspeakably awful: the crimson-eyed menace from another
world. And when Hedorah sucks smoke out
of a factory stack like it’s a giant bong, the film’s powerful point is nailed
visually: we’re actually feeding the vehicle of our own destruction when we
pollute the Earth.

Commendably, the Godzilla series
has adjusted with the times to remain relevant and interesting. The nature of “the monster” has changed (from
nuclear power to rampant pollution and environmental damage), but the overall
premise hasn’t been altered at all. The
fact is, state these Japanese films, mankind’s behavior and irresponsibility
are jeopardizing everyone on the planet.

What makes Godzilla vs. Hedorah such
a charming and worthwhile film, however, is not necessarily the polemical
aspects of the drama. Contrarily, the film often adopts the viewpoint of a
child, who sees the pollution and wishes for some miracle to stop it.

That miracle is
named Godzilla.

“Godzilla would get really angry if he saw this. He’d do something,”
the child, Kenny, declares upon musing over pollution.

In this case, the child seeks an
answer to a problem, and hopes for a person (or creature) brave enough and bold
enough to take action. The film actually
forges a meaningful link between this boy and Godzilla, suggesting that
Godzilla can hear his hopes and thoughts, and thus comes to the rescue of humanity.

Kenny hopes that Godzilla will
fix by might that which man chooses not to address.

Furthering the idea of the film
as originating from a child’s viewpoint, Godzilla vs. Hedorah often cuts to a
cartoon representation of the sludge monster, perhaps in an attempt to maintain
the whimsical aspects of the tale, especially in counter-balance to some of the
unexpectedly gruesome special effects.

Finally, the film even features a
great (if idealistic) answer to the problem of pollution: “if everyone pulls together, we can defeat it.”

If we can just do that one thing, Godzilla will not gaze
down upon us with such disapproval in his eyes, as he does in the coda of this
particular outing.

Another real treat here is the
fact that Godzilla vs. Hedorahis beautifully-shot. The compositions make full use of film’s
rectangular frame, and some vistas -- even
those featuring an obviously mini-metropolis and dueling men-in-suits --
remain visually impressive. There's a downright lyrical moment near the end of the film when Godzilla stands before a sunset, and the implication seems to be that it is mankind's reign itself that is setting, unless we change our ways.

Perhaps some of the ideas here --
like a peace march to stop pollution
-- seem dated in the cold light of the cynical 21st century, but Godzilla
vs. Hedorah, with its child-like innocence and focus on a real 1970s “monster”
--pollution -- works just about as poetically
and effectively as any Godzilla movie ever made in my opinion.

This IS a beautifully shot film! I had the chance (jeez, almost two decades ago...) to see a crisp 35mm print of GvH at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Square, and I was happily shocked at how incredible the images were: I'm not sure if this shows up on DVD, but Smoggo's "skin" glistened with polluted diamond dust, and the sludge and pollution were appropriately grotesque and disgusting. Thanks for another fab review, JKM!Ivan

John, brilliant comparison of James Bond and Godzilla franchises. Absolutely true. I still remember watching Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster(1972) on my local UHF station as a boy in the '70s. '70s had great environmental warning films. I remember watching Frogs(1972) back then too. I also fondly remember Silent Running(1972) with it's fleet of American Airlines Space Freighter carrying what it left of Americas forests in space!

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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